Legislative Update for 06/28/16

At the end of last week the House and Senate leadership reported that much progress had been made in reaching a compromise on the 22.2 billion dollar state budget. On 10:30 p.m. Friday a House Finance Chairman posted to social media an image of “white smoke” (signaling the selection of a new Pope at the Vatican), which veterans of the General Assembly understood to mean an agreement had been reached between the chambers. A final review of language is set for Monday, and the document is expected to be posted online late Monday night. While the final budget is a “conference report” (compromise version of legislation passed by both chambers in different forms) and cannot be amended on the floor, it is still a “two-day bill,” meaning separate votes must be taken over consecutive sessions. Given a House rule that requires the document to be public for 48 hours before a vote can take place, the House is expected to hold budget votes on Thursday and Friday (likely near midnight Friday morning) before adjourning for the holiday weekend. The Senate does not have a public notice rule and can vote the budget out earlier in the week if they choose. Read the full report here.